Moriba Kourouma Kourouma (born 19 January 2003), known as Ilaix Moriba (), is a Guinean professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Celta CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL and EFL). It is provided by Cambridge Assessment English through authorised Cambridge English Teaching Qualification centres and can be ...

and the Guinea national team.

Early life

Moriba was born in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, to a

Guinean Demographics of Guinea describes the condition and overview of Guinea's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations. Population According to t ...

mother and a

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

Krahn The Krahn are an ethnic group of Liberia and Ivory Coast. This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe. It is likely that Western contact with the Kru language is the p ...

father. He holds both Spanish and Guinean citizenship.

Club career

Barcelona

Moriba arrived at

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

from

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

in 2010. As a youth player he was considered one of the best young players in the world, and he has very often played in categories of players far older than him. Moriba really stood out at age 15 when he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against the Real Madrid U19. The most remarkable feat was his last goal, where he scored from the middle of the pitch at the start of the second half. In January 2019, as his youth contract was about to expire, clubs such as

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

tried to sign him. The following season he became a regular for Barça B. He scored his first goal on 8 March 2020, the winner in a 3–2 victory against

Llagostera Llagostera () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Gironès in Catalonia, Spain. During the 20th century, it was known for the production of cork and derived articles. It is located 20 km south of Girona and 15 km west from the ...

. During the 2020–21 season, Moriba was included in the first team squad for the first time for a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

match against

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. He was an unused substitute in a 4–0 away win. Moriba would later make his first team debut – and as a starter – on 21 January against Cornellà in the

round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. He was replaced by

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. A deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay through short and calm passe ...

in the 74th minute of a 2–0 win. On 13 February 2021, he made his La Liga debut in a 5–1 win over Alavés, in which he also provided an assist for

Francisco Trincão Francisco António Machado Mota de Castro Trincão (; born 29 December 1999) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP and the Portugal national team. He started his career with Braga B, ...

. He scored his first La Liga goal in a 2–0 away win against

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

on 6 March 2021, to become the fifth youngest scorer in club's history, topped only by

Ansu Fati Anssumane Fati Vieira (born 31 October 2002) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or Forward (association football), winger for club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Born in Guinea- ...

Bojan Krkić Bojan Krkić Pérez (; sr-Cyrl, Бојан Кркић Перез, ; born 28 August 1990), also known as simply Bojan, is a Spanish former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward ...

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

and

Pedri Pedro González López (born 25 November 2002), more commonly known as Pedri, is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona and the Spain national football team, Spa ...

. On 10 March 2021, Moriba made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut in a 1–1 draw against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

, coming on as a substitute for

in the 79th minute.

RB Leipzig

On 31 August 2021, Moriba joined

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

for a fee of €16 million and €6 million additional in variables. Barcelona also reserved the right to 10% of any future sale.

Loan to Valencia

On 28 January 2022, La Liga club

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

announced the signing of Moriba, on a loan until the end of the season. Moriba returned for a second loan for the 2022–23 season.

Loan to Getafe

On 8 January 2024, after Moriba had made no appearances for RB Leipzig during the first half of the 2023–24 season, he returned to La Liga, on loan to

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Moriba made his debut for Getafe on 11 February against

which resulted in a 3–2 victory.

Loan to Celta

On 7 August 2024, Moriba returned to La Liga once again, joining Celta on loan with an option to buy.

Celta Vigo

On 16 June 2025, Moriba joined La Liga club

International career

Youth career

Moriba is a former youth international with Spain, but he is also eligible for both

and

. He eventually chose to play for the Guinea national team, being set to make his debut on the international stage in June 2020, before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

froze the 2020 football season.

Guinea

On 21 August 2021, Moriba officially chose to change international allegiances from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and chose to play with the Guinea national team. On 27 December 2021, he was included in Guinea's extended

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

squad. On 3 January 2022, Moriba debuted with Guinea in a 3–0 friendly loss to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. In December 2023, he was named in the Guinean squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

in Ivory Coast. On 9 May 2024, Moriba scored a penalty for Guinea U23 in a 1–0 win over

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

during the 2024 Summer Olympic's qualification play-off, which qualified his nation to the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

for the first time since 1968.

Style of play

Moriba, noted for his robust physique, is celebrated for his agility and resolve, both in possession of the ball and when tracking back. His technical skills are complemented by a profound comprehension of the game's dynamics and his powerful shooting ability. Observers often draw parallels between Moriba's style of play and that of

Yaya Touré Gnégnéri Yaya Touré (born 13 May 1983) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently an assistant coach for the Saudi Arabia national team. Touré aspired to be a striker during h ...

, a former footballer for Blaugrana known for his midfield dominance. Moriba himself has acknowledged being inspired by football legends, including

and

Juan Román Riquelme Juan Román Riquelme (; born 24 June 1978) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer and current president of Boca Juniors, the club where he spent the majority of his playing career.La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; ), is FC Barcelona's youth academy. It includes more than 300 young players and has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success, producing several world class players and ...

, Barcelona's famed youth academy, Moriba's playing style does not wholly conform to the typical profile of a Barcelona academy midfielder, often characterized by a deep-lying playmaker role epitomized by

Xavi Xavi () is a Catalan given name, usually used as a nickname for Xavier. Notable people with the name include: Football * Xavi Hernández (born 1980), Spanish football manager and former player * Xavi Andorrà (born 1985), Andorran footballe ...

. While Moriba aspires to excel in the number 6 role, his early notable performances came as a central midfielder in a

4-3-3 formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

. In this role, Moriba functioned as a box-to-box midfielder, undertaking both defensive responsibilities and contributing to offensive plays. Moriba has garnered attention for his long range goals. He has also been a provider, delivering crucial assists, a trait evident since his days in the youth ranks.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moriba goal.''

Honours

Barcelona *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moriba, Ilaix 2003 births Living people Footballers from Conakry Guinean men's footballers 21st-century Guinean sportsmen Guinea men's international footballers Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Catalonia Men's association football midfielders Spain men's youth international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Guinean emigrants to Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain Sportspeople of Guinean descent Spanish people of Liberian descent Sportspeople of Liberian descent Guinean people of Liberian descent Segunda División B players La Liga players Bundesliga players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players RB Leipzig players Valencia CF players Getafe CF footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Guinean expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Guinea 21st-century Spanish sportsmen